best bathroom wall message. ever.

if you're having trouble reading it, it says:
i judge you by your livejournal

found at:
richards on richards

found on:
july 24. 2008

german cinema and edmonton weddings

::: edmonton weddings :::
k+k's wedding was the definition of simple elegance. from the dress to the green evian bottles used as dinner table centerpieces to the ceremony at the edge of a fountain.

as well:
- rob was the best man at this wedding.... he got super nervous then super drunk. fortunately, his dvd collection was not nearby.
- for the first time ever, i was the 'sole shooter' as they call it which means that i don't have the luxury of editing between 2 cameras like i usually do.... this sucks and meant i was under extra pressure to avoid sucky shots.
- the coleslaw had these weird yellow curly things that, upon closer inspection, revealed themselves to be UNCOOKED INSTANT NOODLES.... ummm, WTF, i don't know how to even respond to such use of INSTANT NOODLES. i excitedly told my workmates of this bizarre discovery and they were not surprised as, apparently, this is a common use of UNCOOKED INSTANT NOODLES by non-asians. i'm still in shock.
- the groom and groomsmen started their day off with a 'hot towel shave' at a men's spa staffed exclusively by hot aestheticians. luckily for rob, he was the only one whose girlfriend was present with a video camera running.

here's a favourite still


::: german cinema :::
i watched Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) last week and it:
- made me cry approximately 3 times throughout the film
- has rejuvenated me cinematically
- now resides on my list of PERFECT FILMS. perfect films have it all: direction, acting, story, cinematography, and music.
- makes me a bit weepy when i think about the ending, even now
- is a film for which the premise sounds kinda boring but the film is anything but boring. similarly Half Nelson's premise, high school teacher is a drug addict who connects with a student, also sounds rather uninspired but is actually really really awesome.

life without rob

some fun facts as i end DAY FIVE without rob who is in edmonton until jul 28th to be the best man for a friend's wedding.

- the condo is ALWAYS CLEAN AND TIDY.
- i end up sprawling at least 65% of the bed.
- using up most of an evening at the gym doesn't carry any 'get home late' guilt
- i have no desire to cook anything complex for myself
- all the clothes in the laundry are mine. rob goes thru a lot of clothes in a given day and every time i haul out the clothes from the dryer, i end up with 2 pairs of underwear and everything else is rob's stuff.
- i can (without offending rob) listen to janet jackson and that one chaka khan song i love so much in loud volumes.
- the dishes don't wash themselves.

for those of you who've forgotten what rob looks like (i know i need a refresher), here are photos of rob doing Gob's chicken dance in my brother's yard. if you don't know who Gob or what his chicken dance is, uh, there's no hope for you.




i'll be flying to edmonton this friday to join rob and film the special day.

barking dogs and flying bats

. . dogs . . .
this afternoon i was watching some special features from the Cleo from 5 to 7 dvd (which was part of the 4 by Agnes Varda box set gift from rob) when the repetitive barkings of the dog next door disrupted my "trying not read the english subtitles to figure out how much parisian french i can make out but i can't really so i end up reading the english super quick anyways" attempt.



i stop the dvd player and listen.
yep, it's my neighbour's dog.
she's a small german shepard type dog.

i know it's a she because i constantly hear her owners say (as they are leading her down the hall while she BARKS LOUDLY): be quiet, good girl, be quiet. this is their approach to reducing her barking for at least the past 3 years since i've lived here.

i resume play on the dvd because i figure the neighbours will bring the dog inside.
15 minutes later, i'm on featurette #3 and the dog is still barking.
i hear someone across the street yell: SHUT UP

i decide to step into my patio to confirm it's my neighbours dog. i look towards their patio because it sounds like the dog is in their patio. i hear the squirting of water and look up.

the 3rd floor neighbour directly above the barking dog unit is squirting water from a water mister thing into the patio. she sees me and says: i'm trying to stop the dog from barking. then she says: why don't you go knock on their door?

so, because i had just consumed some liquid courage and have encountered the neighbours many times in the hallways and they seem very nice (although passive aggressive types) i think: yeah! i'll go knock on their door and ask them to quiet their dog. but i secretly think the neighbours must be out or else they would have let the dog back in already.

i go to their door, wearing my pjs (hey, it's 8pm already and no boyfriend to dress up for) and hear what sounds like loud tv and talking.

i knock firmly but a little on the soft side and wait. i hear footsteps and more voices which are mingled with the tv voices. but the door does not open.

but the barking does not stop.

so, i decide to go thru my patio and walk up to the neighbour's patio to see the barking dog in person. i'm standing 1 metre away from the dog and the dog is now barking AT ME NOW. i look at it wearily knowing there's not a damn thing i can do to quiet this animal up.

so i say: be quiet and shhhh.
yah, didn't work.
but i stand there for a few minutes staring at the dog and just looking at it and feeling resigned.

i walk away and just as i walk back into my patio i hear the male owner say "be quiet, be quiet, be quiet" and brings the dog into their unit. i'm not impressed with them ignoring my knocking. do they think it's easy for me to knock on their door?

i say: bad neighbours.
and also this....

ATTENTION NEIGHBOURS: a million "be quiets" will not shut your dog up. take her to a freaking dog trainer already. or i might have to enlist mr. t to take care of the situation.



. . bats . . .
saw batman yesterday and it was really really good but not freaking amazing. the best part of the movie was the acting by heath ledger and a few very nicely framed shots (i.e. joker hanging out of the police cruiser and joker hanging upside down).

some fun and non-fun things

last thursday. . .
babysitting my 3 yr old nephew so my brother and sister-in-law could celebrate their 9th wedding anniversary. my nephew really only wants to play with other boys so rob was the real babysitter that night. verdict: fun but exhausting. for rob.

last friday and saturday. . .
hanging out and getting to know rob's good buddy from high school: eating at memphis blues, driving him thru the downtown eastside, more eating, catching the Wolf Parade show at the commodore, and walking jericho beach. verdict: fun

last sunday. . .
meeting with chris and paul on the indie studios across canada web series idea. verdict: fun but lots of coordination to figure out

yesterday. . .
power outage at work so we cleaned our desks, cleaned out the server room and had beer with our lunch. rob and i watched guatemalan handshake at the vancity theatre. the film was a joy to watch; i felt inspired. verdict: an unusual work day and the film was fun

today. . .
working from home for the first time ever and i stayed in my PJs until 6pm. rob, bill and i watched frownland at the vancity theatre. frownland and guatemalan handshake are 2 of 9 films considered to be party of an indie film movement called mumblecore. however, i really really did not like frownland. it was waaaaaaaaaay too experimental angsty. i hated the acting, the characters, the plot (there was none), and especially the way the film (i felt) went out of its way to test me to see if i was artsy-fartsy enough to watch it.

i can't believe frownland received all the accolades it did. i was ABSOLUTELY NOT IMPRESSED.

our antidote was to drive to The C&L Internet Club which is a warehouse at the foot of boundary and marine drive that houses an amazing collection of dvds. they had a sale tonight so we spent a hour and some serious cash on:
- the complete Dr. Katz tv series
- Neil Young's Heart of Gold concert dvd

also this: our good friend, Terry Miles, was elated to find out that his film (When Life Was Good) was selected for the Toronto International Film Festival. we're so happy for him. i'm also pretty happy for rob since he has a significant non-speaking part in the film. rob will be going to toronto in september as a cast member.

verdict: working from home is fun. frownland is not fun. buying dvds at C&L is very fun although not fun on the pocketbook. a friend getting into TIFF is excellent fun.

summer memories

there are two specific memories that, without fail, return to me during the summer:

1) LOS ANGELES: the warm nights reminds of a trip to los angeles my family took when i was around 9. the memory is specifically around warmth + evenings. this was when my first dad was still alive. i don't know why LA and why nights but memories are memories.

btw, i haven't colour corrected these scanned photos.





god, my mom is absolutely beautiful. she would have only been 31 then.


2) STRAWBERRY FIELDS: when my parents and i (my brother stayed in taiwan) first came to vancouver, my mom did some work harvesting strawberries. i was 3 at the time and since they couldn't afford a babysitter, i stayed with my mom. so now, whenever i smell strawberries, i'm taken back to a certain sense of excitement, unending strawberry fields and my mom hovering above me.

i heart oyama sausages

because our household is currently limping along on 1 income, we decided to go on an 'osterity program.'

apparently, this was a favourite phrase of rob's mom during rob's formative years.

anywho, our osterity program involves not eating out unless we have something really special to celebrate (see: birthdays, flag day, and the unlikely event of our documentary being accepted into a film festival).

unfortunately, i'm picky about where i buy my food and tend to prefer:
1) organic food
2) gourmet food

yup, the 2 most expensive grocery types you can buy but i still figure i'm saving money.

this past saturday, i decided we needed more sausages. and the only place i buy my sausages are oyama sausages on granville island.

i like to have frozen sausages at the ready for quick and easy dinners like:
- pasta with sausage, onion, tomatoes, and other available vegetables
- sausage with rice, kale and onions

both recipes from from Peasant's Alphabet by James Barber

oyama makes their own sausages. they make the usual types and some crazy delicious ones. on saturday, i picked up:
- butter chicken
- japanese chicken
- lemon grass chicken
- maple syrup pork




i cooked up the maple syrup ones the next day (sunday) and rob declared that they were the best breakfast sausages he's ever tasted. he said this twice to me.

i think these sausages are worth paying about $2.25 each for them.

july 2. 2008

my mom returned to taiwan on july 2nd.

my brother decided he really wanted family photos before her return. originally, we were to have family photos on june 26 then it was moved to june 29, then to june 30, then to july 2nd.

so on july 2nd, after a full day at my job, rob and i rushed (by bus) to richmond to take photos at minoru park.

minoru park has that little wedding chapel that is a favourite of many brides. the park also has many large willow trees and a large pond.

additionally, rob had a hangover.

here are my favourite ones






so we quickly took photos, hurried to the Boathouse (i loathe the Boathouse) for dinner then hung out at my parents' house as my mom finished packing and watched a chinese soap show until 11:30pm. my dad was busy killing flying ants and trying to figure out how they were getting into the house.

at 11:30pm, we (rob, my brother, my mom, and i) went to the airport to send my mom off. her flight was at 2:20am.

we did the usual and bought some donuts, drank hot chocolate and stared at each other with 'tired eyes.'






i won't lie to you, i was really tired when, at 1:15am, we walked our mom to the security gate.

so here's why rob hurled at midnight on canada day

rob's last day at his hospitality job was on june 30th and his shift ended at 3pm.

then, 5 hours later, from 8pm to 2am, rob and his co-workers from the hospitality job drank and partied. i stayed home to marinade chicken and make green grape sangria for our party the next day.

rob claims that he had a slight hangover on canada day and was a super awesome helper going out on his scooter on multiple trips to pickup stuff at the last minute.

the canada day party commenced. friends and family arrived.






rob got plastered and did the thing he always does when he gets plastered:
he puts on a dvd movie for people to watch

because july 2nd is a work day for some, all guests graciously vacated by 10:45pm.

i shoved the perishables into the fridge and jumped into bed where rob was already lying down.

1 hour later, rob rushed out of the bed to expel the contents of his stomach.